


Origin Of The Red Hood

by Sam4265



Series: Security Risk [3]
Category: DCU
Genre: League of Assassins AU, M/M, league of assassins!Jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 19:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9840293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam4265/pseuds/Sam4265
Summary: The final part in the Security Risk series.Dick knows that Jason has betrayed him, and now Damian’s been kidnapped. While Bruce and Dick search for their missing Robin, Damian meets the man himself, the assassin Jason Todd.





	

Dick wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and never move again, but he couldn't. Not when Damian was missing. Not when it was his fault. He worked tirelessly. He didn't sleep, he didn't eat. Neither did Bruce, who wouldn't talk to him. He and Bruce worked seamlessly side by side, tracking down leads and then beating those leads to a pulp when they don't have the answers they wanted. Even with their perfect work ethic, they didn't speak. There was an underlying tension that neither of them could shake. They both knew it was Dick's fault that Damian's been taken, but they didn't mention it. They just worked, and worked, and worked. Their latest lead on Ra's was to a warehouse in downtown Gotham. He'd stored shipments there years ago, and at that point Bruce and Dick were running out of options. They were willing to retrace every step Ra's had ever made, revisit every safe house he'd ever used. They would do anything to find Damian, and their patience was running thin. 

"The warehouse has been empty for three months. The last people to use it were members of a local gang. Nothing big time, it's already been dismantled. No apparent connections to Ra's, but we can always hope." Dick said. Bruce grunted in acknowledgment, but make no noise besides. Dick swallowed hard and look up from the file he was holding. Bruce's eyes were glued to the computer screen. It was running through security footage of the night Damian had been taken. It was giving them nothing new, nothing good, but Bruce wouldn't stop watching it. He ran through the forty seconds it took for Damian to be taken, then he rewound it and watched it again. And again. 

And again.

Dick sighed and set down the file. Then he went upstairs to get them some more coffee.

\---

Damian awoke to a wet smacking sound, and grunts of pain. He blinked bleary eyes at the scene before him. He couldn't see much, he was being blocked by a big burly man dressed in league garb. Damian looked around. Ra's al Ghul was standing in the corner of the room, watching whatever was playing out in front of Damian. When he noticed Damian was awake, he motioned for the assassin to stop. The assassin let up, and moved out of the way. The man he'd been hitting was bleeding heavily, he spit blood from his mouth and kept his head down, panting. 

"Damian, my dear grandson all grown up. Have you returned to us?" Ra's asked. 

"Not by choice," Damian snarled. Ra's laughed. 

"That seems to be the theme of today," he said. He gripped the man in front of Damian by his hair and wrenched his face up. Damian didn't recognize him. He was pale with thick black hair and bright blue green eyes. He was probably very handsome normally, but at the moment he was covered in blood and bruises, and one eye was swelled shut. "This is Jason Todd, he's an orphan. Not the best assassin we've ever had. Not the worst, either. At least, he wasn't. Until, of course, this lovesick fool started sleeping with Bruce Wayne's whore of a son. Now he's just expendable," Ra's snapped, letting go of Jason's head roughly. 

"Don't talk about Grayson that way!" Damian snapped. He examined the man before him once again. This was the man that Dick had spent so much time with. This was the man he'd betrayed them for. 

"I'll talk about him anyway I want, I am, after all, in charge here," Ra's said. "And anyway he fell for such a ridiculous trick. The oldest one in the book, never fall in love with the enemy." 

"I never betrayed him," Jason spoke for the first time. His voice was rough and raw, like he'd been screaming. Ra's laughed.

"Of course not my dear boy, but he should have known it could never be that easy. We planted your apartment with bugs the minute we learned of your little unauthorized escapade. Unfortunately the Wayne slut is tightlipped, he didn't give away anything useful until yesterday."

It barely registered in Damian's mind, the fact that Jason hadn't betrayed Dick. The fact that Ra's had been behind this all along, that Jason had never even known. Damian snarled and tried to leap away from his chair, but his bindings held him tight. He struggled and snarled against them, but Ra's just looked at him like he was a particularly disappointing pet who was misbehaving. 

Then Jason started to laugh.

It was a dark, menacing laugh. A killer's laugh. Damian wondered how much Ra's really knew about Jason, and if maybe he'd taken him for granted.

"Something funny, Todd?" Ra's asked. When Jason looked up he was smiling with blood stained teeth.

"You motherfucker," he said. "When I get outta here, I'm going to kill you." He spit blood into Ra's face. Ra's didn't move. He walked around the back of Jason's chair, and grabbed a cloth to wipe his face. He moved to stand behind Jason, then in a split second he was driving a knife into Jason's thigh. Jason roared in pain, but quickly calmed himself and took deep short breaths to calm himself. He smiled up again at Ra's. He looked deranged, and Damian thought Ra's looked just a little disturbed.

"You made me a killer Ra's, and soon it's going to be time for me to show you what I've learned."

Ra's ripped the knife out of Jason's leg, and stormed out of the room while Jason was still grunting in pain. The assassin followed him. Damian looked over at Jason, who was looking at the floor and breathing heavily.

"You shouldn't antagonize him, you know. It will be a lot easier to get out of this ridiculous mess if he's not watching our every move," Damian snapped. Jason looked up and rolled his eyes.

"Speak for yourself kid."

Damian heard a rope snap, and Jason moved his hands out in front of him. He was holding a small thin blade in his hand, and was shaking rope off his wrists.

"Where did you get that?" Damian asked, bug eyed. 

"Ra's always has one or twenty on him somewhere. The trick is to get close enough. I didn't think he'd stab me, but hey, shit happens." Jason sawed through the rope at his ankles, then carefully stood up. His leg was bleeding sluggishly, so he took his shirt off and ripped it into strips. He tied it into a tourniquet around his thigh and hissed as he tightened it as much as he could. He limped toward Damian and cut through the ropes tying him down. When the last rope had been cut Damian kicked out, his foot landing right in Jason's thigh. Jason cried out and fell to the floor. Damian grabbed the knife and landed heavily on top of him. He pressed his knee into Jason's sternum, making it hard for him to breathe. He left his foot on Jason's thigh and pressed down. Jason gritted his teeth.

"What the fuck, kid?" He snapped. Damian narrowed his eyes.

"What are you doing with Grayson?" He snarled.

\---

Bruce and Dick suited up in silence. Alfred and Tim watched them with disappointed stared, but they were ignored. 

"Are we taking the Batmobile?" Dick asked. Bruce got in the Batmobile and closed the door. The car roared to life and sped out of the Batcave. Dick sighed. He felt suddenly very heavy and tired.

"I guess I'll meet you there." Dick swung a leg over his bike and kicked it to life. He sped out of the cave after Bruce. 

They made quick work of the drive, weaving in and out of traffic at unadvisable speeds. Bruce stayed two cars ahead of Dick at all times. Even in the field he was avoiding Dick. Dick's chest hurt, but he ignored it. He'd be lucky if Bruce ever forgave him for this. 

They made it to the warehouse in record time. They watched it for a while, but didn't see anything suspicious.

"There's no one here," Dick muttered, looking down at the building. Bruce didn't reply. Dick wanted to ask if they were going to stay any longer, but he didn't want to anger Bruce any more than he already had. He just sat there and didn't say anything. He couldn't apologize. It would mean nothing. Nothing until Damian was safe and sound in the manor again, and even then Bruce might not even care. 

Then, out of the corner of his eye Dick saw something move. He whipped around and stared at the ground. 

There. He saw it again.

It was an assassin, he'd walked by a window in the warehouse.

"There," Dick said. "They're in there." 

Without another word the dynamic duo leaped down off of their perch, and onto the roof of the warehouse. They broke in through the sky light, and slipped down into the shadows. Nobody saw them come in. They were in the main room of the warehouse, there were four doors off to the sides that had to lead to smaller offices. Damian had to be in one of those. The two on the right were cracked open, which meant they were probably prisoner free. That left the two on the left. 

"I'll take the one closest to the entrance," Dick said. He waited for Bruce's minute nod before he moved. He crept across the rafters, then jumped down in front of the door, landing silently on his feet. A stack of boxes blocked his view of the assassins milling around the warehouse, and more importantly, blocked their view of him. Dick opened the door and slipped inside. What he saw made him double take.

Damian was sitting on top of Jason, his Jason, who was bleeding all over the floor. 

"What are you doing with Grayson?" Damian snarled. Dick moved forward to separate them when he heard Jason's answer.

"What the fuck do you mean what am I doing? You heard Ra's, he bugged me. I didn't know. I love Dick, I wouldn't betray him you fucking demon child!" Jason snapped back. Dick felt relief swell in his stomach. Jason hadn't betrayed him. This wasn't his fault. He'd been bugged. It could have happened to any of them, in fact, Dick was surprised it hadn't already. Ra's knew who they were, he knew where they lived. He could've bugged them at any time, but Jason's apartment was just more accessible than the Wayne Manor. 

"Thank God," Dick said suddenly. Damian and Jason both turned to look at him. "Both of you had me worried. Now let's get the hell out of here before Ra's kills us all."

Damian leapt up and ran towards Dick. He swung his arms around him and pulled him into a massive hug. Dick wrapped his arms around Damian and closed his eyes.

"Never do that to me again," he whispered fiercely. " _Ever_." 

Damian's arms tightened around him.

"Only if you promise the same," Damian whispered back.

"I promise," Dick said.

"Me too," Damian replied. He pulled back from Dick reluctantly, and made room for Jason. Now that Dick was looking at him properly, he realized Jason looked like hell. His face was swollen, lip split, eye black. His shirt was gone, revealing a myriad of bruises, and there was a tourniquet tied around his thigh to stop the bleeding of a particular nasty looking wound. Dick pulled him into a hug as well.

"It's been a long day," Jason sighed. Dick hugged him tighter.

"It's over now," he said. 

They made their way out of the room and back into the main area of the warehouse. Jason was limping, but he was more or less walking on his own. When they were outside they got a good look at how many assassins were still in the warehouse. Ra's was gone, nowhere to be found, but there were dozens of assassin's still hanging around, which probably meant Ra's was coming back. Bruce dropped down behind them. He glared at Jason as he did.

"What is he doing here?" He growled. Dick choked on his words. Bruce wouldn't believe anything he could say. Damian stepped forward.

"He and Grayson were bugged, it wasn't his fault. And he got us both out of our restraints," Damian said. Not quite vouching for Jason, but, enough. Bruce nodded once, but he still ignored Jason. Dick looked back out at the warehouse. They couldn't make it back through the skylight, not with Jason's leg as bad as it was, which meant they'd have to go through the assassins. Jason came to the same conclusion Dick did at the same time.

"Leave me here," Jason said. Dick whipped around, brow wrinkled.

"What? No way," he said. Jason rolled his eyes.

"Do the math, Dickie, there's no way we fight all these guys. You three go back through the roof, and I'll figure my shit out myself." 

Dick stepped up to Jason and shook him.

"No, I'm not leaving you."

"I've caused enough problems for you, Dick, this is for the best," Jason sighed. He knew it was true. He was nothing but trouble. He'd been nothing but trouble his whole life. His dad thought he was a waste of space, his mom thought he was stupid, Ra's thought he was shit at his job, and here he was, making the love of his life's life a living hell. It was time to retire Jason Todd, Jason knew. He would make sure they got out, and then he'd deal with what happened next.

"No," Surprisingly, it didn't come from Dick. It came from Bruce. 

"You need to be held responsible for what you've done. And you won't be, not here. You're coming with us," he said. Jason looked up at him. He didn't disagree.

"Fine," he said. Dick looked stricken. He looked like he wanted to argue, but Damian grabbed his hand, and shook his head. Dick closed his eyes for a moment and collected himself. This was an argument for another time and place. 

"Ok, fine, then let's kick some League of Assassin ass," Dick said, and the leapt into the fray. 

They fought the assassin's off as best they could. Bruce went through them like a knife through butter. Dick took them out one at a time, and Jason and Damian worked together to take them out. Jason was on an adrenaline high and could barely feel his injuries. They'd nearly taken them all out when one caught Damian off guard. He knocked Damian into the wall, dazing him, and grabbed a throwing star, launching it at Damian. Jason, without a second thought, jumped in front of Damian and let the throwing star land in his side; it would have landed in Damian's head. Jason cried out, and flinched. Damian maneuvered around him, and jumped on the assassin, taking him down with a particularly vicious kick. He moved back to Jason, who was trying to figure out the best way to pull the throwing star out of his side.

"This is not my fucking day," he sighed. The adrenaline was wearing off, and he was starting to see spots.

"Hey, bite sized," he said, looking at Damian.

"What, Todd?" Damian asked, looking at the throwing star imbedded in Jason's pale skin.

"I think I'm gonna pass out on you," he muttered. Damian looked up in alarm.

"Don't you-" but Jason was already slumped over in Damian's grip. Damian sighed. He looked over his shoulder and Dick and Bruce, who were just finishing off the last of the assassins.

"A little help over here!" He called. "This heathen is heavy." 

\---

Jason awoke to a blissful lack of pain and a dark ceiling that looked like it was made of rock. He turned his head to the side to see Dick sitting in a chair at his bedside, dressed in sweats and a t-shirt, reading Pride and Prejudice.

"What the hell are you reading, Dickiebird?" Jason croaked. Dick looked up and broke into a massive grin.

"Only one of the greatest loves stories of all time."

"I hope you know you're Elizabeth," he muttered. Dick snorted.

"As if you could ever hope to be Mr. Darcy." 

Jason grinned. They were ok. 

\---

The next week was a tumultuous affair. It didn't take long for Jason to realize that he wasn't being treated at a hospital, but at the Batcave. He wasn't allowed out of the cave, and he wasn't allowed to be left alone. Ever. Everyone warmed to him pretty quickly, especially since he had Damian's stamp of approval. Apparently that was a hard thing to come by. The only one who never seemed to adapt to his presence was Bruce. He was wary and untrusting, and honestly, Jason couldn't blame him. He did seem to think that Jason had made up for some of his bad deeds by saving Damian's life, which, hey, that was something. 

After the week of guaranteed medical care was over, Jason's life hung in the balance. He had no where to go, and he wasn't safe anywhere. Ra's would be looking for him. If Bruce kicked him out, he'd have to go into hiding. He wouldn't be able to see Dick again, and they both knew it. 

They sat together on his bed in the med bay, which had become his temporary bedroom. 

"Where will you go?" Dick asked. They both knew there was no way Bruce would let him stay. Even if everyone else disagreed with him. 

"I don't know," Jason said. "All my family's dead. I'll probably end up in Europe somewhere. Better not tell you where, though. Just in case Ra's comes after you." 

Dick swallowed hard and looked at the ground.

"I don't want you to leave," he said. Jason put an arm around him.

"I don't want to leave," he replied. Dick brought his arms up around Jason's neck, and Jason said nothing about the tears starting to stain his shirt. 

Bruce walked in suddenly.

"Both of you, out here, now." He left as quickly as he'd come. 

They composed themselves quickly. Dick wiped his eyes, and Jason grabbed his crutches. Alfred wouldn't let him walk on his leg until the wound fully closed. 

Together they hobbled their way out of the med bay and into the cave. Bruce stood in front of them, Damian at his side. Tim sat in the chair in front of the Batcomputer, and Alfred stood tall behind him. 

"Jason," Bruce started. "You're a former member of the League of Assassins. None of us will ever forget that, but we also can't forget what you've done for us. You saved Damian. Ra's bugged you for information about us. Information he would have found somewhere else if not from you. This isn't your fault." It was a big admission, coming from Bruce. Jason was sure he'd never forgive him. "Despite what you are and what you've done, I'm not about to let you back out there without help, so if you want, you can stay here, with us." 

Jason was completely and utterly shocked. Everyone was. No one believed Bruce would ever give Jason this opportunity. No one believed he'd ever forgive him. 

"Thank you," Jason breathed out. Bruce's lips lifted in what Jason was willing to count as a smile. 

"You're welcome," he replied. "Now, needless to say, you're going to need a new identity. We can't have an assassin running around with Batman and Robin." 

Jason blinked. Not only was Bruce going to let him stay, but he was going to let Jason fight with them. Side by side, trusted, like family. Dick smiled wide, like he'd never been happier. 

"What about Hood," he suggested. "You know, since your last suit had a hood." 

Jason looked over at the robes so carefully folded on one of the tables. He had no doubt Alfred had been the one to do it. The black fabric was stained red with Jason's blood. 

"Nah," Jason said. "I think I like Red Hood better." 

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone wants to leave me a prompt in the comments feel free!


End file.
